


all you have to do (is stay)

by nevershootamockingbird



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Fix-It, No Spoilers, at least none that I can think of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-30
Updated: 2016-08-30
Packaged: 2018-08-12 02:04:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,721
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7916161
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nevershootamockingbird/pseuds/nevershootamockingbird
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Move in with me,” he says, and he knows it sounds a little desperate and  a lot uncertain. But she’s looking at him like he’s offering more than just a key to her, and he thinks that maybe she knows what he’s trying to say.</p>
            </blockquote>





	all you have to do (is stay)

**Author's Note:**

> This is my attempt at fix-it, because I love Catherine and I'm just choosing to pretend that her story line didn't go to shit. Canon divergent! This isn't really set at any particular season, so I don't think there are any particular spoilers, but sorry if there are! I own nothing but Netflix, which allowed me to binge this beautiful, heartbreaking show. Enjoy.

“Catherine’s lease is up next month.”

 Steve looks over, but Kono just keeps typing at the tablet, voice gentle.

 “Might want to figure it out before it’s too late, boss.”

\--

 She never brings it up, just spends the night when he asks and leaves the next day, same routine they’ve always had.

 Steve watches Cath sing in the kitchen, flipping pancakes and shaking her hips, voice off-key and too loud.

 He leans against the doorframe, smiling softly until she turns around, laughing when she flushes and throws a towel at him.

 He thinks, as he’s washing the dishes after, that it might not be bad to make a new routine.

\--

“I love you, man, you know that, but you need to figure this out. I know I don’t have the best track record, but if you ask me, she’s special, okay?"

 Steve glances over, sees Danny staring at him with a soft look on his face, nodding slowly before turning his attention back to the road.

 “Just don’t mess it up, babe. She’s stayed this long, but she might not forever.”

\-- 

Max’s themed movie night are a monthly tradition, now. It’s Danny’s turn to pick, and he’s gone with Battleship as his choice- Steve is sure it’s just to make fun of him.

But then Catherine shows up in cammies, and Steve thinks that maybe he should just start thanking Danny for the movie instead of ragging on him.

It’s an awful film, so bad that they collectively ban Danny from picking again for three months, pointedly ignoring his protests. They’re all easily distracted, making jokes and laughing at each other, so Steve takes the opportunity to study Catherine as much as he wants, watching the way she’s integrated herself so easily into Five-0. She’s all for it when a popcorn fight breaks out, culminating in Grace hiding behind Adam and the team taking turns vacuuming Max’s living room.

They don’t spend the night together unless it’s planned; it’s just not what they do. Steve registers the surprised on Catherine’s face when he asks if she’ll come over, but the smile that follows is what he thinks about as he leads her back to his house. Maybe, he thinks, it’s something they should have done it more.

\--

“Move in with me,” he says, and he knows it sounds a little desperate and  a lot uncertain. But she’s looking at him like he’s offering more than just a key to her, and he thinks that maybe she knows what he’s trying to say.

“Move in with me,” he says again, softer and more gentle, holding the key out in the wide space between them, and this time he doesn’t feel afraid. Catherine smiles at him, slow and wide and so full of love, and his heart skips as she reaches out to take the key.

“Yes,” she says, and Steve thinks that maybe living with someone else permanently won’t be such a big deal after all. 

\--

Everyone pitches in on moving day.

Well, Steve thinks, watching as Lou and Duke open a couple more beers, Kamekona sitting down to go through a photo album with Grace, “pitches in” might be too loose of a term for some of their friends.

Her boxes are all there, though, scattered around his living room and his dad’s office, half-opened and still mostly packed. Danny’s complaining in the kitchen, something about how Cath has actual matching plates so they can finally get rid of Steve’s, but he just laughs and grabs a box labeled ‘bedroom,’ hauling it upstairs while Kono and Chin work on setting up knick knacks.

Catherine comes up to find him a few minutes later, smiling and leaning against the bedroom as he sits on the edge of the bed, holding a framed photo of them and looking up at her.

“I’m so glad you’re here,” he admits, watching as her smile softens and she moves to sit next to him, propping her chin on his shoulder. “I never should have let you go.”

“I’m home,” she says, smiling up at him and wrapping an arm around his waist, and god he loves her so much. “I’m finally home.” 

\--

“She’s really good with Joan,” Mary tells him, smiling widely as Catherine cradles the squirming baby, cooing down and smiling at her giggles.

Steve watches closely, watches as Catherine lifts Joan up high before bringing her back down quickly, watches the radiant smile that breaks out over her face at the little girl’s happy cries. Mary leans into her brother, resting her head on his shoulder, humming absently.

“You’d be a good father,” she says, voice careful but sincere. “You’d be better than them.”

He doesn’t need her to elaborate on that- he thinks she might be right. He thinks Cath might be even better.

\--

He takes Danny ring shopping with him. They go to half a dozen stores across the island, Steve spending hours looking over each and every ring, but Danny just smiles and keeps looking on with him.

There’s some teasing, some half-assed complaining, but Danny calms him down when he starts getting anxious, lets him drive the Camaro to each shop without a word.

Steve finally finds it at the last store they visit, a white gold band with three small sapphires, and all that he can think of when he sees it is giving the ring to Catherine. He hesitates, though, because what if it’s not right? What if it’s wrong and she says no? Danny steps in again, tells him that if he sees her in it,  then it’s the right one, and everything in Steve’s head slowly just falls into place.

When Steve shows the ring off to the rest of Five-0 that day, he lets Danny take the credit for actually purchasing it. He’ll even let him tell Catherine that, he thinks, because it’s the honest truth and it’s about damn time he started giving her that.

\--

“You’ll know when it’s time, Steve.”

Chin’s voice is gentle, soothing Steve’s nerves as he fidgets with the box in his pocket. It’s a habit he’s formed in the months past, carrying the rings around and fiddling with the box when he’s nervous, always making sure to stop when Catherine’s around.

He looks over at this friend, swallowing hard before asking, haltingly, “How did you know to ask Malia?”

Chin looks up from the computer to smile at him wistfully, thumb absently tracing over the wedding band he’d never taken off.

“I couldn’t stand not knowing her answer for another day.”

\--

Catherine’s loud when they fuck, house to themselves, no need to muffle herself so her fellow officers don’t hear them. She’s unashamed about her moans as he fingers her, wails and cries out when he goes down on her, whimpers and sighs when he finally thrusts into her.

Steve can’t stop talking, never can, biting down on her shoulder just to shut himself up. She gives as good as she gets, nails digging into his shoulders and raking across his back, voice breathy as she urges him on.

It’s hotter when she flips them, moaning high as she grinds her clit down against his pelvis. Steve can’t keep his hands off her, dragging down over her hips and up her sides, cupping her breasts and pinching her nipples to make her whine. He makes sure Cath comes first, crying out above him as she tenses up, cunt clenching around his cock as he tries not to lose it. He slides his hand away from her clit when she whimpers, flipping them again so he can fuck into her without making her too sensitive, groaning as she starts whispering into his ear.

He never knows what to expect from her (isn’t that why he loves her, though?), dirty talk or devotions; it’s never what she says that matters, really, just that it’s her who’s saying it at all.

“Steve, please,” she begs, mouth his ear, letting out a gasp when he gives a particularly deep thrust. “I’m not going anywhere, please, stay,” voice wrecked and wanting, and that’s all it takes for him to give in, waves of pleasure crashing over him as his hips stutter and still.

After, when they’re laying side by side, sweat cooling and muscles relaxing, he traces lazy patterns over her back, watching the way her lashes flutter across her cheeks as she tries not to fall asleep. Steve moves closer, brushing her hair off the back of her neck and kissing her shoulder, smiling at the soft sound she lets out.

“I’m staying, Cath,” he whispers against her skin, closing his eyes as if in prayer. “I’m staying right here.”

\--

“Will you marry me?”

Steve knows that Danny’s gonna give him shit for this later, for popping the question while they wait for an ambulance, he and Cath both covered in his blood. Chin was right, though; he can’t stand not knowing her answer for another day, especially when that day might not come.

“What?” Her voice is breaking, hands trembling as they hold her jacket against the wound in his side that won’t stop bleeding, and he has to blink hard to get her back in focus.

“Marry me, Cath, please,” he might be slurring, he can’t tell, and he can hear Kono and Chin yelling the medical team over, sees Danny drop down on his other side, but all he can focus on is fumbling with the box in his pocket. He almost drops it but Danny’s there, he’s always there, holding Steve’s hand steady and guiding it towards Catherine, voice wet and low as he tells Steve that he’s so stupid. Catherine lets out a sob, hands pressing harder against his side and making him grit his teeth together, but god he just needs to know.

“Yes,” she tells him, tears spilling down her face as Kono dives down next to her, replacing her hands so she can take the ring box from him, “Yes, I’ll marry you, just stay alive.”

His vision’s going gray at the edges, and when a hysterical laugh bubbles out of his throat he’s too damn relieved at her answer to care that he can taste blood in it. Chin is crouching down, his face twisted in agony, voice desperate as he says something about holding on, but all all Steve can do is slur out an apology before everything goes black.

\--

The first thing he’s aware of is the steady beeping of a heart monitor- his own, he realizes after another minute.

The next thing he notices is the pressure on his hands, two different ones curled around his, holding them steady against the bed.

He takes his time opening his eyes, slowly blinking against the fluorescence, grunting slightly at the low ache he feels slowly emerge in his side. There’s a sharp intake of breath to his right, a small hand tightening on his, and when he turns his head he’s greeted with the sight of a wrecked-looking Catherine. She’s got tear tracks down her face, dark circles under her eyes, and he can still see his blood under her nails and blotching her sleeves around her wrist. But, she’s also got the ring on, and he can’t help his grin because god if she isn’t the most beautiful sight he’s ever seen.

“Steve,” her voice is broken, fresh tears welling up in her eyes, and he squeezes her hand clumsily as she breaks down. “Fuck you, god, don’t ever do that again.”

“Save your breath, babe, we both know this isn’t the last time we’ll see him like this.” Danny’s voice is weary, raw, and when Steve turns his head to look at him he can see that Cath isn’t the only one who’s been crying, but there’s that big goofy smile on his partner’s face that he loves so much. “You’re a monster, you know, who proposes to their girlfriend when they’re bleeding out, huh? Schmuck,” Danny says, but his eyes are fond and Steve is content turning his attention back to his fiancée.

Catherine’s wiping her tears away, laughing wetly at their antics, and she leans forward to kiss his temple when he tries to mumble an apology.

“That was really the best time you could think of, brah?” Chin sounds relieved though, can’t even tease, as he walks through the door, Kono with still blood-stained hands coming in after him. They stand at the edge of his bed, and he can hear his other friends in the hall, Max and Lou, Jerry and Duke, all working their way towards his room, and he feels a little loopy as he smiles at Catherine again.

“Now’s as good as time as any for an engagement party, right?” He asks, just to see her smile again, but the collective laugh he gets from his friend, his family, is just an added bonus.

Later, after everyone’s left, after the doctors have come in again, after his meds have been re-administered, he convinces Catherine to climb onto the bed with him, relaxing more when he feels her body against his. They lay there for a while, pressed close, and he’s almost asleep when she finally stirs, voice a soft hush against his neck.

“I would have said yes,” he hears, eyes too heavy to open again. “I would have said yes since the day you moved back.”

When he sleeps, he dreams of her.

\--

He spends the night before the wedding at Danny’s house.

Chin’s there, too, because they’d both insisted that he’s not allowed to see Catherine before the wedding, something about bad luck and superstitions. Steve’s pretty sure that seeing his fiancée won’t be any worse luck than what he already seems to have, but he’s willing to humor them, especially when it means spending a relaxing night with his two best friends.

He and Danny fall into bed together, tipsy and warm, laughing softly about the dry jokes Chin had made as he’d stretched out on the couch.

“You nervous at all?” Danny asks, voice soft and scratchy, curling his arm underneath a pillow. “S’okay if you are, you know, not the end of the world,” he continues, and Steve doesn’t think he’s ever loved his friend more than he does right now.

“I’m not,” he admits, smiling softly and shrugging a shoulder, body feeling loose against Danny’s sheets. “I can’t wait to marry her.”

\--

Steve cries at the wedding.

He never really thought he’d be the type to, hadn’t gotten misty eyed at Chin or Kono’s ceremonies, but this is different. One minute he’s fine, laughing at something Chin is saying about how he didn’t forget the rings this time, and then the music starts and he feels his breath catch when he sees Gracie with her flowers.

Danny’s swearing under his breath next to him, dabbing at his eyes surreptitiously as he watches his daughter walk down the aisle, and Steve just waves when Grace beams as she takes her place across the aisle from them. Kono gives them a wink as she joins Gracie, laughing at Danny briefly before looking back down the aisle, and when Steve follows her gaze he feels his heart stop.

Catherine’s standing there, smiling at him like she can’t believe it, and he thinks that he understands how she feels. She walks herself down the aisle, and Steve feels his eyes well up as he takes her in. Danny pats him on the shoulder, reminds him to breathe, getting a startled laugh out of him as he swipes at his eyes. Steve barely hears the words Mamo is saying, can’t do much more than stare at Catherine and cry, tears rolling slowly down his cheeks.

“I do,” she says, voice wavering and hands finding his, squeezing hard as she slides the ring onto the finger. “God, yes, I do.”

“Yeah,” Steve breathes, twisting their hands to slide her ring on, smiling slow and wide as he looks at his wife. “Me too,” he finishes, and someone’s laughing, everyone’s laughing, but all Steve can do is duck down to kiss Catherine, tears finally drying, because this is what he gets to do for the rest of his life.

He likes to think that somewhere in the past, something he did, made him deserve this.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed this!! Kudos are lovely, comments are wonderful, and please come yell with (or at) me on [Tumblr!](https://nevershootamockingbird.tumblr.com)


End file.
